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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Blizzard of 2010!

Growing up in the Catskills meant that a little snow didn't cramp everyone's style because it was always snowing. My parents were never the type to stay inside when the snow was coming down, and most of our neighbors owned snowmobiles or trucks with plows that made it easy to get around.

Fast forward to my adult life living in Brooklyn. Knowing how the city streets can get, we had to cut our Christmas holiday at my parents short by leaving early Sunday morning to beat the snow. Parking is hard enough in our neighborhood as it is, no need to throw a few feet of snow into the mix. We made it down safely and got all of our packages into the house all before 2pm. Then we waited.

Due to all the wind, it was hard to get an accurate measurement of how much snow actually fell. I would have to guess it was about 18 inches at least, but I think there were reports up to 30 inches! Anyway, by the time I woke up on Monday morning to get to work, I wasn't even thinking about clearing the walkway or trekking to the subway (which is only about a block away - lucky me!) I knew my subway would be running fine since it is one of the few trains that runs underground from start to finish. But this is what greeted me when I opened my front door.

Of course my landlords are away and we have no idea where they keep the shovel! I had to make due with our kitchen broom. Since it was about 6:45am - the neighbors hadn't exactly jumped out of bed to clear their portions of the sidewalk either.

And this was the scene down in the subway! It must've come down through all the grates in the sidewalk.

Our block didn't even get plowed until Tuesday around 4pm - almost 36 hours after the snow had stopped!

And one of our neighbors is going to have to deal with this mess once all the snow melts. It used to be an awning over their back deck. No idea how they will fix that since all of the yards are enclosed...going to have to walk it piece by piece through the house!

By the time I made it to work on Monday morning I realized I was one of three people that made it in. I stayed for about an hour and went back home. Here are some pictures of Madison Avenue from the 18th floor of my building. Cars weren't even stopping for red lights so they wouldn't lose their momentum. Quite a sight!

Were you affected by the Blizzard of 2010? I keep hearing crazy airport stories from my friends. All I know is that my parents didn't slow down one bit upstate!